Why I Oughta...

Just a couple of days ago, I posted the first photo of my compost bins with an initial pile of leaves from our yard in the storage bin .  The leaves just don't stop.  At least, until the trees drop them all.  So, my approach is to try to stay on top of them with repeated cleanups in the backyard instead of waiting until the end when there's one big cleanup.  I've tried that....and found that the job is TOO MUCH if I wait. So, I sent about collecting (and mulching) even more leaves and storing them in the compost bins.   Here, below, is what the bins look like just a few days later: The bin on the left - the carbon storage bin - is now heaping.  And the bin on the right - which is properly mixed - has settled to just below the frame.  So, I put a bit of leaves on TOP of that pile, too.  If you look at the foreground, you'll see that there is a layer of mulched-up leaves scattered in FRONT of the bins, too.   The carbon storage bin wi...

The last time I checked in on our compost bins, I was looking after some of the settling that was taking place post a full turn in both bins and our tumbler.  This was in late September when the bin on the right was still 'over full' and the bin on the left was about 1/8th full .  Below, is a photo showing the current state of the same two bins.   The one on the right has settled even further.  The bin on the left has just started to be put to work with the initial pile of leaf mulch piled in that side. The pile on the left will continue to be filled and settled.  I also am planning on insulating the Disneyland Roses with leaf mulch again, so those chicken-wire rings will be full of material this Fall.  Once I get the bins mostly stuffed full, I'll then just simply switch to mulching-in-place the leaves on the lawn.  That's the process I used last year and the material was broken down by the time Spring arrived. I haven't gotten around to adding ...

These are the days for filling up our compost bins.  Each Fall, the leaves in our yard drop all of their annual leaves and I use the mower to mulch them up and pick A LOT of them up off the grass .  My process is actually a little nuanced in terms of mulching vs. bagging.  I use my Ego leaf blower to clean out the beds and push all the leaves to the middle of the yard on the grass.  From there, I use my mower - with the bag attached - set to the lowest level to begin to mulch-up and vacuum all the leaves.   However, I don't immediately clear the mower bag once it is full.  If you've done this (like I do), you know when the bag is full because you start to see dust and little leaf parts flying around because there's no place for them to get ejected into the bag, so they kind of fly out the sides.  I'm doing that on purpose - so I leave a little bit of leaf litter (mulched up, mind you) behind on the lawn to feed the soil. But, after doing that for ...

Just yesterday, I posted a photo of our barren Oak trees in our backyard .  These two mature Oaks have historically kept many of their leaves well into Winter thanks to the phenomenon called foliar marcescence.  In that post , I mentioned that we were seeing something similar on other trees that normally behaved the same was as the Oaks.   Today, you can see the photo at the top of this post showing all eight Frans Fontaine Columnar Fastigiate Hornbeam trees that have lost all of their leaves by mid-November.   Just two weeks ago, I posted about how one of these trees shed its leaves , but the rest were keeping them.  This tree (#4 from the left) has done this same thing before in 2018 .   But now, ALL OF THEM have dropped their leaves.   And that is, umm, alarming. Here's what these same trees looked like one year ago - on November 19th, of 2019 .  FULL OF LEAVES.  Dry leaves.  BUT FULL.  Have a look at this pos...

Just a few days ago, I posted a photo of our three-trunk River Birch in our backyard that we inherited with our lot.  If you look close enough at the photo in that post, you'll see a few yellow leaves on the tips of the tree.  I didn't notice the yellow at the time, but when I was out in the yard this week, I saw something that surprised me:  the yellow leaves covering this thing.  And...seeing a bunch of leaves drop to the ground.  Here's what the patch of grass underneath this River Birch looks like (photo below).  In the top right corner of the photo, you can see the three-trunks of the tree. Seeing all those leaves on the ground is, ummm, concerning.  I mean...it is early August.  Not early October.  And, it has happened really fast.  Like, from green a week ago to yellow and dropping now. I went poking around and found some (potential) answers. Miller Nursery says it is one of two things :  Stress.  Or somethi...